Metallica stars in the new “This Is SportsCenter” commercial

For 20 years, SportsCenter has been running clever commercial spots that seem to be aimed mostly at people who already probably watch SportsCenter anyway. Most of the time they feature guest stars from the sports world doing funny stuff, though occasionally they’ve also gotten the likes of Richard Simmons or The Swedish Chef to join in. The latest features the humorless Bay Area quartet Metallica in a starring role, with James and Lars looking for a new sports-world hero to champion after the retirement of Mariano Rivera (who used “Enter Sandman” as his walk-up music), and poor Kirk Hammett reduced to offering guitar lessons around the office. (At least he’s got horror movies to fall back on.) You can watch the spot below.